3 GPZ's in the field for a week- review

Three of us headed to a fairly well worked NSW site for a week detecting with our new Zeds. Two of us had a couple hours with our Zeds before the trip but one was just purchased and put together there. To our shock it had a faulty coil that produced a horrible pulsating noise that swamped all signals and screamed with the sensitivity on 1. We set all detectors with the exact same settings and channel and ours were smooth as and the faulty coil still moaned loudly. We swapped coils and whatever the machine the coil was on was unworkable and my coil worked fine on the guys machine. We swapped control boxes, no joy. We are experienced operators and the coil is faulty out of the box. The guy was rightly devastated and left after a day to get his coil to Minelab. I will inform you of the outcome. If it happened to us then odds are there are other faulty coils out there.

We put the two remaining Zeds to work and nuggets started to come from depth. We worked runs hammered by 5000's and the Zeds got small nuggets at depth. One 1.4 gram nugget was dug from 14 inches and then astonishingly 10 other nuggets were found in the same hole walls and dig out dirt. So the detector is like a souped up SDC.

We worked a spot with nuggets where the ground is full of nails, wire and shotgun pellets. We discovered that the Zed has a great form of discrimination. Shallow targets usually give a double blip signal from the Zed coil. By listening only for the weak broad signals we were able to ignore the shallow trash and dig nearly only nuggets from 8-14 inches deep. With the 5000 we wasted time digging trash and shotgun pellets in this spot.

In terms of deeper targets it will take a few trips to get an idea of the machines ability, however a specimen with 5 grams of gold spread over an inch of the quartz piece was detected at 750mm and a 6 inch aluminium tube that contained gas tablets for rabbit burrows was found 1 metre deep in a old collapsed rabbit burrow. We noticed specimens consistently gave a warbley signal and also some solid nuggets. So its early days but the depth capability of the detector on small and medium targets seems very very good.

In one spot where iron rich blood red soil played havoc with 5000's the Zeds ran quiet and we found numerous nuggets among the hundreds of detector holes where 5000's were digging trash and false signals, and were driving us mad trying to get the nuggets that were there when we used 4500/5000's. In another spot old timer dig holes had been flogged by detectors over the years and the Zeds regularly pulled micro nuggets from most heaps just like a SDC does, but probably deeper and the Zeds also found very deep targets missed by all others.

While we are yet to master the settings on the machine we found that sensitivity on 14 and threshold on 30 with low smoothing, high yield, difficult ground worked well. Some issues with the machine are that the hand grip is hard on your hand and you need a glove/padding if you detect long hours. The armrest does not come with a pad (very shabby). We put the ones off our older models on. The harness takes some adjusting to get right. The plastic on the coil and skid is soft and scratches easily. One of us put a thin Perspex cover on the top of the coil so it is not scratched as you run the trowel of dirt over it. The detector control box and screen are vulnerable to stick and rock scratches, and dust quickly gathers around the seams where the battery joins the detector. You should get a cover over them quick smart when you first get your detector. The earphone hole is open and you should cover it or plug it with a soft ear plug rubber to keep dust out. Mt biggest negative is that the detector shaft is 2 inches too short to allow a comfortable swinging stance for my 6 foot 4 inch high body.

As for the weight of the detector, a friend said that they would carry an anvil around if it found them gold and while they did test us with their weight you did get used to the weight after a couple days. One thing we did notice with the Zed is that you are continually digging bigger and deeper holes for targets compared to the 5000. Some epic digs will get you fit if you are using a Zed. We all comented on how deep we had to dig for small targets.
In very rough hilly areas I may consider patch hunting with my 4500 and a spooked coil first if I needed to cover a lot of ground and then use the Zed if gold is found. But maybe I will use the Zed all the time and see if I am fit enough.

In summary it is early days but the two of us are very happy with the Zed and would not use anything else now. I found 42 grams of gold including a couple crystalline nuggets and the other guy did well too. Considering past results in the area the tally of nuggets was a big improvement on recent trips (except for the first time there when a couple patches were found).
cheers Tributer.
PS edit: For scale in the image below the 2 biggest nuggets are 4.6 and 5 grams in size.

Hey Tributer
Mate I was just wondering what you had been up to about 1/2 hr ago!!
Thanks for the report, very valuable from a bloke like you, an interesting comment I noticed was the broad feint target response, is this the sort of target response you may consider a ground noise on a GPX ?? just trying to get my head around the GPZ language.

Did you give it a try in your troublesome "Tertiary Basalt" area?

Did you end up getting an SDC?

G'day Tributer,

Thanks for your honest report on the new GPZ7000 and yes I have heard of several coils being faulty out of the box now. Minelab should have no problem replacing them under Warrenty.

Cheers.

Mike.

Hi Tributer,
Thank you for sharing, Very insightful and good to hear about your observations in the field. The GPZ is heavier and responds diffrently to what we are used to with the GPX and will be a learning experience for all new owners.
Cheers
Mark

Thanks for the review Tributer, sounds good.
cheers
Brett

rc62burke wrote:Hey Tributer
Mate I was just wondering what you had been up to about 1/2 hr ago!!
Thanks for the report, very valuable from a bloke like you, an interesting comment I noticed was the broad feint target response, is this the sort of target response you may consider a ground noise on a GPX ?? just trying to get my head around the GPZ language.

Did you give it a try in your troublesome "Tertiary Basalt" area?  

Did you end up getting an SDC?

Hi Lee, I purchased the GPZ on faith after having my 4500 from its release date and not getting a 5000 or SDC (While the small gold would have been good with an SDC, I could not imagine swinging a SDC and missing deep big gold so I passed on the model). The beauty of the Zed is it does find the micro gold and keeps you happy, while you also can detect knowing you will get the deeper gold!

Its hard to describe the deep broad signal of the Zed, but they are weak but have a definite centre to them and you wonder if some of them are ground noise. On skimming off the top couple inches most signals became brighter and were targets although the very occassional signal was ground noise from an ancient termite nest or charcoal. The broad signals do sound like a ground noise signal on a 5000 but I have found these deep very faint signals have been gold or deep trash targets. They are faint, but will always pull you up at a regular swinging speed. Without getting hung up on nugget size and measured depths too much I will say that small compact nuggets of about 0.2 to 0.5 give a very distinct broad signal and then when you dig them from 8-12 inches you are surprised at how small they are yet they give a broad signal. You have to not so much forget you 5000 signal language but use it and adjust to the new Zed signals, not as centred and sharp as a 5000 but definitely deeper sounding for smaller pieces.

I have not tried the Zed on my Tertiary basalt, but I am sure it will sing out on each basalt boulder....the basalt cobbles might as well be lumps of iron...and they effectively are!
cheers Tributer

Hi Tributer

Thanks for that report
I have a mate that has picked up 55 grams to date but spent
more time on the ground than yourself
He has mentoined pretty much along the same lines
as you have

Hey Tributer
Mate thank you very much for the very detailed response, I hope you continue getting good "Gold" & providing insight here into the GPZ.
Are you working fulltime again?
A 'Golden Year" to you man!!!

Mike54 wrote:G'day Tributer,

Thanks for your honest report on the new GPZ7000 and yes I have heard of several coils being faulty out of the box now.  Minelab should have no problem replacing them under Warrenty.

Cheers.

Mike.  

Yes Mike, words can't describe the anguish of the guy with the faulty coil turning up for a week detecting. He tried to use the Zed but it was hopeless. The coil would give a signal to targets run under the coil but you could not hear them for the background pulsating noise (very loud) if you were detecting or even motionless.

 When he used one of our good Zed's for an hour ....that's when he really snapped. Hopefully its not  an issue with many of the Zed coils (or the coil lead maybe). I guess Minelab will need to review their coil production quality control in Malaysia? real soon. Tributer

Congrats guys you are going well with the Zed's. Thanks for posting your findings with the Minelab newbie, You guys are well on the way with the learning curve.

Thanks again !
Cheers
Ashley

Thanks Tributer,

A nice report and well worth a read. I have been skipping the GPZ topics, mostly because I can't afford one! I'm glad I read this one.

M

Hi Tributer,

Thanks for the report - very informative and well written. I appreciate the detail, and time taken to write the post.

Congratulations on the new finds and well deserved.

Thanks for the report Tributer, very detailed and impressive. I can't even begin to imagine the trauma the other bloke went through with a dodgy Zed coil straight of the box. It's not like you can grab one from to old selection to get by with.

Some nice nuggets in the pic as well and a couple of nice crystalline ones as well, and they were coming from very good depths as well, 750mm for the 5g specie is very impressive.

cheers dave

Hi tributer,    thanks for such a good report.  We are looking with interest at what owners have to say before taking the plunge and purchasing a 7000. 
You mention that in trashy area you are listening for particular signals and determining if it is trash or not. I know in past, rule 1 has been dig every signal. Can you say with your experience so far that there would not be gold nugget under some trash that you would normally dig up?
Another question also, what have you found as far as pinpointing a signal so when you dig you can be fairly confident that you are digging down to target and not next to target until you get a larger hole in ground than needed? 
On another note, your thoughts, we have a location where we have what could be called sponge gold, it is fine and you could have 10g to 15g in a specci that is 25mm in diameter. If you put a multi meter across it there is no conectivity. This whole patch is like it with only limited nuggets of up to 3 to 5g max that we have found in limited time we were there. The 4500 has had no trouble detecting these but sounds like the 7000 might go deeper, would you think that is the case with your experience?
It is good to here that you are finding small nuggets at good depth as we have another patch that with 4500 we need to scrape 2" of surface to find the small ones just out of reach.
look forward to your comments and thanks in advance.  
once again thanks, TG

What a great read Tributer. I value your judgement because secretly I have followed your words of wisdom many times on this forum.
Is there an easy way of testing the coil before you get out on the field? I realize your mate may not have had the time to do so beforehand.
I suspect you can run it at home to check it (with perhaps some unstable noises) or is this a waste of time also ?
cheers Bill

Thanks for the feed back everyone.
DAVE, 750mm for a 5 gram speci, I expected some people to jump upand say they strongly doubted it. I was shocked at the find by my friend, the depth was measured on a graduated pick. I can't explain it, something about a speci and the gold covering an area (footprint) of an inch square I guess helped in it giving a signal.

VASILIS, you should be able to test the coil in your back yard, remember the GPZ can give out a reasonable hum in the threshold. I would imagine the odds of getting a bad coil are very slim, while obviously not non existent. Best way is to get with another GPZ owner and mimic settings channel and ground location on each machine, they should operate identically.

TRAVELERGOLD, I can't be confident all the shallow signals were not gold as the odd bit of confetti gold has turned up on the spot at grass root level, however at the spot gold is consistently 8-14 inches deep in a layer of crunch below a layer of loam. We did dig lots of weird sounding targets just to be sure, but in this spot by ignoring shallow signals we were able to cover lots ground and find the grams among a hoard of trash. It will not work in many places where nuggets are often at shallow depths.

Pinpointing with the ZED is not a precise as with a mono on a 4500. It pays to centre from a few different directions keeping the coil level to judge a centre. Once you start dipping the coil in the hole it is hard. I tried low sensitivity settings and coils edge sweeps, and centring is difficult. A pinpointer does help (save time) for bigger deep, deep targets. For shallow targets I just dig broad and hard and deep at the start (no shallow skimming off) and often was left with the target close and easily found.
Can't qualify an answer on the spongy gold you mention but have a feeling based on signal reponses I have got on gold that the GPZ will slay them.
cheers Tributer

Thanks for the good run-down Tributer. Looks like putting in time with a couple of operators to compare performance is the way to go. Nice gold ! Don't clean it all up cheers. p.s. check your email...

Excellent finds Tributer, especially the crystalline bits. As a matter of interest, what coils did you used to run on your 5 or 45?

Thanks for the reply Tributer.
I have been hearing the same issue with pinpointing and also witnessed this first hand when we tested a friends machine.
I suppose each person develops their own style with the GPZ over time.
Well done with the great finds.
Cheers Vasilis(bill)

Hi Canned Heat, yes it was nice to find some crystalline pieces with shape. Re your question on coil use on my 4500 I ran many mono coils depending on the ground, terrain, nugget size and amount of ground to be covered. I mostly use a NF12 round in the rough terrain I work commonly and a CT 18 round and an CT 18 elip goldstalker where it suits. The NF sadie is occassionally on for crumbing on mullock heaps close to camp at night.  Friends with the 5000's usually ran NF elips, mostly 17's and 14's I think.
cheers Tributer

Fabulous summary Tributer. Many thanks.

BG

What a pleasure it was to read  such a clear report on the 7000s without any crap rhetoric  

To use your own words - So the detector is like a souped up SDC.
Yep it seems so ,  I will also say after reading your report that it may find smaller gold/specimens  at better depth then anything else .
The huge question is can it go deeper on the big bits then all before ?  

Now the  height issue ' your 6' 4" & having trouble ' my mate Bernard is 6' 7" & a solid 148 kilos  , guess no sale for him ML  

As for the bad coil on a brand new unit ' one needs to feel for the dealers when this sort of thing happens , do they need to test each unit for quality control ? how can a $10,700 unit leave the factory like that ? 

jack.

Tributer good to see your getting hold with the Zed. The depth of this detector is unbelievable. People will only believe how good it is after they have used one. We got at least a ounce today species weighed in at 64.4 grams all deeper than the 5000 could detect. Absulotly brilliant.

Basada wrote:Tributer good to see your getting hold with the Zed. The depth of this detector is unbelievable. People will only believe how good it is after they have used one. We got at least a ounce today species weighed in at 64.4 grams all deeper than the 5000 could detect. Absulotly brilliant.

Hi Basada, I agree. Based on the depths I have found targets, I am now busting to get hold of the 20 inch coil when its released.

Well done Steve. You found more gold in a week than Dodgy and the crew found in ten years with a QED.

Hotrocks wrote:Well done Steve. You found more gold in a week than Dodgy and the crew found in ten years with a QED.

I'd bet the 7000 hasn't found as much cutlery.

Thanks Tributer. Hot little coil that 12", especially on the 5000 in Fine Gold. Found some crazy deep bits with one on my old 5. Never used the Coiltek 18 but did run the NF 18 a lot on it, was a wicked combo. Good luck on more of those crystalline bits.
What happened to that Qed? They still trying to make it work?

Canned Heat wrote:Thanks Tributer. Hot little coil that 12", especially on the 5000 in Fine Gold. Found some crazy deep bits with one on my old 5. Never used the Coiltek 18 but did run the NF 18 a lot on it, was a wicked combo. Good luck on more of those crystalline bits.
What happened to that Qed? They still trying to make it work?

C.H , the QED project is no longer active, I believe Mr Candy removed the coil and fitted a broom head and uses it to sweep his shed  ..cheers Mick

And spider webs too. One of those mad forum members from that QED loving website "AZIF" posted schematics, pcb artwork and source code. Got a copy of it and studied, and on paper the schematic does not work as it has a few errors and no configuration bits for the source code. The pcb artwork does not marry up with the schematic. And he was threatening to bring down Minelab.....what a *****.

G'day Colour.

We've got to be careful in what we say here about other members from other forums,especially when quoting names.This could easily turn into a verbal slanging match between forums,involving other repercussions.
My apologies for any inconvenience/intrusion colour,but for the sake of a headache free forum lets try to stick to the main discussion of this thread.
Tributer,everything you've mentioned about the GPZ 7000 (less the faulty coil) is what I'v found to be,regarding the testing performance of the GPZ. Top show.Well done on you gold finds.

Cheers Kon.